AISD applies for low attendance waivers for three bad-weather days

Amarillo Independent School District will have the chance to wipe three days of low attendance from many of its schools’ records because of bad winter weather this year.

The board of trustees voted to apply for low attendance waivers Monday because some schools within the district had days when their attendance was more than 10 percent below their average daily attendance from the previous school year.

The board approved to apply for waivers for 35 schools that had low attendance on Dec. 6, 37 schools on Dec. 20 and 22 schools on Feb. 13.

School districts apply for waivers because their state funding levels for the upcoming school year are tied to their weighted average daily attendance numbers, Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.

Trustee Linda Pitner said the low attendance waivers are particularly important this year because of $4 billion in cuts the Legislature made to public schools for the current school year and the upcoming school year.

“It’s hugely important because it has to do with money and it has to do with funding that would come to us,” she said. “Every dollar we receive these days is very important to our ability to do what we do for students.”

AISD received a $11.6-million cut from the state last year.

Culbertson said most waivers are sent in for bad weather days, but schools can submit waivers for other issues such as a health concern. For example, Athens ISD submitted waivers for several days last year because of the H1N1 virus, she said.

Culbertson said districts can request waivers for individual schools or every school in the district, depending on the situation.

She said the TEA received 273 low attendance waivers from school districts throughout the state last year. The number of waivers the agency receives usually depends on how much bad weather the state had in a given winter, she said.

In other business, the board approved a resolution from the Texas Association of School Administrators that calls for the state Legislature to reexamine the state’s public school accountability system and its reliance on high stakes tests.

More than 200 school districts across the state also have approved the resolution, including Amarillo metro-area districts River Road ISD and Highland Park ISD, according to district officials and data from the association.

Board President Anette Carlisle said the board approved the resolution to show support for efforts to address problems with the current system.

“The purpose is to get the state to really focus on what is appropriate for students,” she said.